Objectives

The main objective of LIFE + Pinassa is to improve conservation of black pine forests (Pinus nigra) in Catalonia (habitat 9530 * (Southern) Mediterranean Pine stands of endemic Pinus nigra).

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The project focuses on the implementation of multiple actions aimed at improving the conservation state of Black Pine forests in the medium and long term within the Catalan Natura 2000 network. The actions address in an integrated way the main problems and threats that this habitat, currently in a degradation and regression process, is facing: destabilized structures with no regeneration capacity, undiversified and strongly exposed to future fires, because of the intense exploitation of the past, the abandonment of the management and the effect of large forest fires, in a context of drastic global changes.

The singularity of the conservation actions proposed brings a clear demonstration dimension to the project area regarding the sustainable and multifunctional forest management that will be up-scaled to the whole range, in the Iberian Peninsula, of this habitat of priority community interest.

Life PINASSA will undertake actions in 10 Sites of Community Interest (SCI), some of which cover the major part of the distribution of this habitat in the Catalan Natura 2000 network.

The specific objectives are:

– To protect the few unique stands of exceptional cultural and biological characteristics present in the distribution area of Black Pine, improve habitat’s stability, regeneration and biodiversity, and reduce its vulnerability to fires.

– To significantly improve the biodiversity of young, dense and simply structured Black Pine forests, the regeneration of heavily exploited ones or of those intensively affected by large fires.

– To increase the resistance and resilience (capacity of self-defence and recovery) of Black Pine forests to both large fires and climate change.

– To generate and transfer planning and management tools to managers and owners, to make compatible the conservation of Black Pine forests with their productive and recreational functions.

– To contribute to the resolution of conflicts between the different functions of Black Pine forests: ecological, economic and social.

– To disseminate information about the Natura 2000 network, environmental values, and the sustainable management of forests to the general public.